Saleh’s Speech a Boon to Extremists

The “11th of October Movement” demands punishment of elements responsible for attack on women.

The “11th of October Movement for human rights” announced that security committee members of the Islah Party in charge of guarding and protecting the change square in Sana’a, along with the First Armored Division soldiers of the brigade Ali Mohsen have beaten human rights activist and writer Professor Huda Al-Attas , writer Ms. Arwa Abdu Othman, journalist Widad Albadawi and Ambassador Jmailah Ali Raja’a with rifle butts during a rally which came out to denounce the president’s commenced on mixed gender gatherings.

The assault did not stop at violence, but soldiers also reportedly used abusive words and broke their cameras and took their phones and handbags.

The attacks on the activists came one day after the president’s speech which demanded the JMP to prevent the mixing of men and women in marches and opposition protests.

Many suspect that the comments are a signal for extremist groups to carry out attacks against female protestors in order to force them to abandon their revolution and their freedom of expression.

The movement condemned this “systematic act of terror” and requested all civil society organizations and revolutionary groups in the change square to undertake a practical stance by demanding Ali Mohsen punish perpetrators according to law or hand them over to the attorney general.

It also held the Islah Party responsible for the incident and previous attacks on the protestors and demanded them to stop controlling the squares, as various committees pointed out that the revolution is not theirs but is a people’s revolution.